The Blocker

“To find happiness and what is most important in life,
we only need to see who is sitting closest to us.” -for DLP & CEP

You were close today
You are always close
But today I almost felt you

Sort all the details with the universe:
A pizza and few beers should do the trick
Help me to get back in check
Been so busy these days…

And the drive over to the pizza parlor
We sat and said little to each other
Long drives and long weekends do that
Trivial mental complaints mostly

And why we weren’t connected
Is the same reason we forget:
Sun is shining and melts icicles away
Tomorrow may bring snow

Third in line, we cross the menu
With eyes that have memorized
A ritual I guess, not to decide what to have
But to check to see if there are changes

I didn’t know you were next in line
The younger couple who cut in front of you
Blocked you from my view
And now, they probably wish they hadn’t

But they didn’t know
And we all thought little of you
Even at that moment
When the younger couple passed me by

And you were coming straight at me
But that young man blocked my view
He tripped over you and fell
And he will never stand again

To remember is never enough
And to forget is never possible
You are and will always be
You are not and never have been

But, You were close today
You are always close
But today I almost felt you…

Remnants – A Carpet Tragedy

I know you are out there, because I think I remember you
you existed once, I am sure, because I think I remember

a new breed of archaeology:
the archaeologists digs in the schoolyard of his youth
sifting through the first layer of the yard
an old candy wrapper, perhaps his he thinks

and whether it is or not, he believes it is and therefore it is
he thinks how lovely it must have tasted, but it is not the same
he doesn’t recall the last piece of candy he ate
and this wrapper no longer has a tasteful memory

sifting more, a twisted paperclip looking like a person
and he recalls how he once twisted paperclips
to look like animals or people or phallic objects for laughs
those were the easiest ones to make, he smirks

digging more, finding many lost pieces of the schoolyard
forgotten matchbox car named friends,
asphalt superball competitions,
green plastic barrette crushes

and the crush for the moment is memory
he had many future wives when he dreamt their life ahead
it was clear then, how many kids they’d have, the car they’d drive
the date they’d marry, but now they are nameless, faceless

the yard has been thoroughly dissected
mounds of little treasures lie all about
larger dirt piles surround those treasures, and now
the bulldozers can come in and make way for a new tract

he thinks:

I know you are out there, because I think I remember you
you existed once, I am sure, because I think I remember…